Washington, DC, October 24, 2017 – Today, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) released its comprehensive 2018 Farm Bill policy platform, An Agenda for the 2018 Farm Bill. NSAC has been a leader in agricultural policy for over 30 years, and has been instrumental in helping to develop some of our nation’s most successful agricultural programs for conserving natural resources, advancing the next generation of farmers, supporting agricultural research, and creating farm to fork market connections. NSAC’s 120 member organizations put together these recommendations after months of working closely with each other and with grassroots stakeholders on the ground. An Agenda for the 2018 Farm Bill provides a comprehensive vision for a more sustainable farm and food system based on the expert analysis and experience of farmers and ranchers and the groups who represent them.

“NSAC has spent the last two years hosting farmer listening sessions and working closely with our members to ensure that our farm bill recommendations were informed and guided by the experiences of family farmers and ranchers,” said Greg Fogel, NSAC Policy Director. “We heard a lot of positive feedback about experiences with USDA programs, but we also learned that many producers and rural communities are continuing to struggle and are in need of the kind of deep and long-lasting support Congress can provide in the 2018 Farm Bill. An Agenda for the 2018 Farm Bill touches on nearly all titles of the farm bill and provides detailed recommendations on how Congress can build upon the successes of the 2014 Farm Bill to help farmers and ranchers ensure a robust and thriving American agricultural system for years to come.”

NSAC 2018 Farm Bill priorities include:

Increasing Farming Opportunity: Beginning Farmers and Ranchers

Nearly 100 million acres of farmland (enough to support tens of thousands of new family farms and ranches) is set to change hands over the next five years – during the course of our next farm bill. To keep our agricultural economy strong, we need to facilitate the transfer of skills, knowledge, and land between current and future generations of family farmers. The 2018 Farm Bill should support aspiring and retiring farmers and ranchers by:

Expanding beginning farmers’ access to affordable farmland

Empowering new farmers with the skills to succeed in today’s agricultural economy

Ensuring equitable access to credit and the federal crop insurance program

Encouraging a heightened commitment to advanced conservation and stewardship for a new generation

Advancing Land Stewardship: Comprehensive Conservation Title Reform

Every day, American farmers and ranchers face a myriad of economic and environmental obstacles and challenges (e.g., extreme weather, soil and plant health issues, and pests) and work to overcome them. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs can help producers address these challenges by supporting agricultural resilience, strengthening their ability to absorb and recover from weather extremes and other shocks and stresses to their agricultural production systems and livelihoods. The 2018 Farm Bill should empower farmers and ranchers with the skills, resources, and training necessary to ensure farms and food systems are resilient and healthy by:

Expanding program access to serve farmers of all types, sizes, and geography

Enhancing impact by targeting dollars to the most effective conservation activities to solve priority resource concerns

Improving support for conservation outreach, planning, and implementation support

Increasing effectiveness and efficiency through better measurement, evaluation, and reporting

Investing in Growing Regional Food Economies: New Markets and Jobs

Consumer demand for local and regional products is on the rise, and this growing interest in the “farm to fork” pipeline is helping to open new markets and economic opportunities to farmers and ranchers across the nation. However, a lack of infrastructure (e.g., storage, aggregation, transportation, and processing capacity) and technical links (e.g., marketing and business planning) has made it difficult for many farmers and ranchers to update their businesses to reach these new customer bases. The 2018 Farm Bill should help connect the dots by:

Increasing access to fresh, healthy, local food for children and low-income individuals and communities

Developing new and strengthening existing infrastructure that connects producers to consumers

Securing Seeds for the Future: Public Plant Breeding Research & Development

Diversification is a central tenet of any good risk management plan. In agriculture, biological diversity is key to ensuring success: having a variety of well-adapted crops not only reduces the impacts of extreme weather, pests, and disease, it also protects against price fluctuations in the market. Yet, the federal investment in public plant breeding R&D has fallen precipitously, putting food security at risk. By re-investing in public plant breeding research and public cultivar development, we can better ensure that all farmers have access to high performing, locally adapted seeds. The 2018 Farm Bill should keep American agriculture competitive and resilient by:

Increasing seed options to expand farmers’ planting choices

Boosting investments in research to further crop diversity and enhance the security of our food system

Improving coordination and transparency to make strategic public and private investments

The federal crop insurance program is a cornerstone of the farm safety net, but it must be improved to better serve all of America’s farmers and use taxpayer dollars more efficiently. In its current form, the program has limited utility for certain types of farms and farmers in many areas of the country; it discourages sustainable farming practices like cover cropping while encouraging some unsustainable practices like short rotations; and it precipitates farm consolidation through its unlimited subsidies. The 2018 Farm Bill should modernize federal crop insurance by:

Expanding access to better serve all types of farmers in all regions of the country

Promoting conservation by eliminating insurance program barriers to sustainable farming practices and linking premium subsidies to stewardship practices that protect our land, water and health

Reforming the program’s structure to prevent the program from unfairly influencing markets, land access, or planting decisions and from promoting farm consolidation and weakened rural communities

Improving delivery to make the program more transparent and efficient

NSAC Positions on Other Key Farm Bill Issues

In addition to the priorities outlined above, NSAC will advocate for 2018 Farm Bill provisions that will:

Advance racial equity in the food and farm system

Reverse the trend of rapid consolidation and vertical integration in agriculture

Increase access to healthy food, particularly for vulnerable children

Close commodity subsidy loopholes and includes reasonable subsidy limits.

About the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is a grassroots alliance that advocates for federal policy reform supporting the long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities. Learn more and get involved at: http://sustainableagriculture.net

This work by NSAC is outstanding. Thank you for the sound analysis based on worthy values. What can I do in a few minutes today (besides flying to Washington to lobby, or giving money) to be an engaged citizen? I wish I had a bunch of time and money to dedicate to pursuing this, but reality is that I don’t. My paid work in sustainable ag is focused directly on supporting producers in better practices. I have a family to raise, elderly parents to care for, and local community issues that also need my attention. Policy work is my avocation. Still, I am committed to doing what I can.

What I would like to know from NSAC is: What action can I take now, today or on other certain days, to add my voice to do some good? When I go to the Action Alerts section of this website, I find only items from 2015 and earlier. Really? That’s disappointing. What can I do today, from my computer or phone, to help move sustainable agriculture policies forward for good?

Could NSAC develop an action center that is focused and allows me to do something quickly and on a regular basis?

Hi Ann, thanks for being an avid follower. We don’t use the “Action Alert” tag on the blogs much (it is used sparingly and only for national pushes), you’re better off checking out the “Take Action” tab on the main menu of the site. We’ll be updating that page with Farm Bill asks very soon. We’ve also got our Farm Bill section up under “Our Work,” where you can learn about our priorities and see the bills we’re supporting. Finally, I’d recommend signing up for our Weekly Roundup and Action Alert emails if you aren’t already. We’ll send out easy actions you can take to help via the Action Alerts list.